After 80 years, North Las Vegas progresses with ‘energy and momentum’

As the unofficial historian of North Las Vegas, Jeff Alpert has seen countless photos from throughout the city’s history. One stands out.

The city’s founder, Tom Williams, and an unidentified man stare out over a barren landscape.

“It was all empty back then,” Alpert, a retired teacher, said. “You could look for great distances and not see much.”

Although Williams moved to the area in 1919, North Las Vegas wasn’t officially incorporated as an independent city until May 1946. As the city celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, the sparse desert landscape Williams once surveyed would be unrecognizable today — replaced by neighborhoods, industrial centers and a city of nearly 300,000 residents.

To commemorate the milestone, city leaders are inviting residents to reflect on their history. Earlier this year, community members buried a time capsule outside ⁠North Las Vegas City Hall, while inside, an exhibit based on Alpert’s research traces the city’s evolution.

Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said it was exciting to celebrate this milestone and build lasting memories within the community.

“The longer I go back and pull up stuff from decades and decades ago, it just reminds me how far we’ve come from where we started,” Goynes-Brown said.

A condensed history

Long before Williams arrived, the Nuwuvi people occupied the land. Mormon missionaries came in 1855, setting up an experimental farm north of their fort. That farm was later taken over by Conrad Kiel, who established a homestead at modern-day Carey Avenue and Commerce Street.

After his arrival, Williams subdivided the 160 acres he bought and invited others to join him. According to Alpert, people were drawn to the area for a simple reason: the lack of government. In the 1920s, this meant that it became a haven for Prohibition-era bootleggers.

A community began taking shape. The city’s development was further accelerated by the establishment of Las Vegas Army Air Field, now Nellis Air Force Base, which opened mere weeks before the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

In the next several decades, the population boomed, growing in conjunction with the rest of the valley. The city also acquired large tracts of land thanks in part to the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Eldorado and Aliante, two master-planned communities, took shape.

The Great Recession beginning in 2007 hit North Las Vegas especially hard. Alpert said the city was on the brink of bankruptcy and confronting the possibility of a state takeover. He recalled attending City Council meetings at the time where council members would spend hours scrutinizing line items on the city’s budget.

“They were broke, and they would have a 20 or 30 minute discussion on one police motorcycle, one car,” he said. “And then you advance to the last three or four years, and you go to City Council and they’ll just buy 10 Ford Expeditions (or) a new fire truck.”

The city emerged from the recession with a renewed focus on economic development and diversification. Over the past decade, North Las Vegas has experienced a surge in residential, commercial and industrial growth, a dramatic shift from the austerity measures that dominated City Hall during the recession years.

Leading a resurgence

The city has similarly come a long way in terms of its leadership. According to Alpert, Horace Tucker, the city’s first mayor, was a known drunk who was accused of committing two murders after leaving office.

Former Mayor John Lee, who was elected in 2013, is credited with diversifying the city’s economy, leading to its uprising after the recession. Now, Goynes-Brown has focused on transforming North Las Vegas into what she calls a “complete city,” with more educational opportunities, housing options, parks, jobs and amenities for residents.

Goynes-Brown moved to the city in 1964 when she was a toddler. Her father served on City Council for two decades.

“It was a very small knit community back then,” she said. “You knew your neighbors. There’s a sense of belonging. I remember just having a good time.”

When she was elected in 2022, Goynes-Brown became the first Black mayor in Nevada’s history. She said it was “surreal” to continue her father’s legacy and she’s “honored that residents have put their faith and their trust in (her) to lead this community.”

Goynes-Brown said she is most proud of the diverse community she serves and the people that she’s gotten to work with.

“When the economy went through the downturn when I first got on (City) Council, learning that process and navigating through hard economic times, almost going into receivership and then building the city to what you see today just speaks volumes about the history of North Las Vegas and the hard work that we’ve put into creating new visions,” she said.

Goynes-Brown is term-limited and cannot seek reelection this year. The race to succeed her is already underway. State Rep. Daniele Monroe-Moreno and City Council member Scott Black advanced to the November general election last month.

The mayor’s successor will inherit a number of development projects that are already in the pipeline. Nevada State University is expected to open a satellite campus in the city in the fall of 2027. The Downtown Gateway project, near Lake Mead and Las Vegas boulevards, is set to transform the city’s core. And Apex Industrial Park, which covers 18,00 acres along Interstate 15, is continuing to drive economic growth.

Riezl Pe Benito, the city’s chief of staff, put the exhibit in City Hall together by consulting Alpert’s book, “North Las Vegas: Its History and Its Mayors.” As residents celebrate the city’s anniversary, she hopes they will feel a strong sense of pride in their community and the opportunities that lie ahead.

“If you read the history, it will make sense why the city is having that energy and momentum — because of its beginnings,” Pe Benito said. “It has always been like that. It has always been a strong city in Nevada. And it’s really continued that way up to now. It’s amazing.”